


Transfigurations

by pmonkey816



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/F, I can't stop filling these, Kink Meme, More Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-14
Updated: 2015-03-14
Packaged: 2018-03-17 21:03:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3543683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pmonkey816/pseuds/pmonkey816
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cousland returns to find Leliana the new Divine. They use the chant of light in... creative ways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Transfigurations

Leliana sighed, happy to be out of the heavy robes of the divine and into the light nightgown she wore to bed. It was the middle of summer, and the ceremonial robes (and hat, for that matter) were utterly stifling. She looked at herself in her dressing mirror and ran her hands through her hair to brush it back out of her face. The fire cast a warm glow to her skin that was not truly there—she hadn't spent much time in the sunlight the past little while, concealed as she always was in the shadows, the dark corners of the Inquisition. She could hardly recognize herself anymore, after everything she'd been through the past decade. It wouldn't stop now, either—if anything, the burden on her shoulders had grown only heavier over time. There was so much still to be done, to be fixed, to be built. She ran her eyes over her arms and legs, the skin the nightgown didn't bother to cover, eyeing each scar with a grimace. This was not what the Divine was supposed to look like; she was not supposed to be a murderer, a seductress, an archer, a ruthless blade that cut down her opposition.

 

She wished she could let it go, could shed her skin and her past and become the person the world expected of her: the Divine Victoria. But every time she thought she could let herself go, could fall into the role the way she was supposed to, her mind caught on Elissa Cousland. With all letters to her love gone unanswered since Corypheus' defeat, she could only assume the worst: she was gone (maybe taken by the calling by now, or felled by demons). If she could cut that thread tying her back to her former self, she supposed she would have no use for Leliana anymore; she supposed she could become more. Someone Justinia could be proud of. But no—Justinia had helped make her this, had led her to salvation and serenity and love then torn it away from her with the call of duty.

 

A call both she and Elissa knew as sure as their own mothers' voices. Perhaps two such people were not meant for happiness. Perhaps one had to choose between greatness and contentment.

 

“Let the blade pass through the flesh, let my blood touch the ground,” she gently passed one hand, then the other, over her wrists, where Andraste had been bound for the pyre, “let my cries touch their hearts.” She placed her fingers now over her heart, where Andraste had been stabbed, the ultimate cruelty made merciful by Andraste's suffering. “Let mine be the last sacrifice.” She whispered the words to the mirror and watched her fingers touch to her lips in a soft kiss, hoping her reflection might be comforted in the way she'd been when Dorothea rescued her all those many years ago.

 

A knock interrupted her thoughts, and she turned toward the door, wondering who would disobey her order that she not be disturbed. Surely, it must be important. She wrapped a robe around herself before settling on the edge of the bed and concealing a dagger in the palm of her hand (it wasn't prudent for the controversial new figurehead of the chantry to be caught unprepared for trouble, after all).

 

“Come in.”

 

“Hey there, Your Holiness.” Her new Left Hand Harding popped her head through the door and offered a short little wave. The woman was a surface dwarf, an Andrastrian through and through, but not much for pomp and ceremony. “I know you said you didn't want to be disturbed, but I think you're gonna want to see this.”

 

Leliana turned her head off to the side to regard the half of Harding protruding from the doorway with a dose of skepticism. What could she possibly have done now? She was a capable and cunning scout, which unfortunately seemed to go along with a... spirited attitude. “What is it?”

 

“I'll just let you see for yourself.” She disappeared from the doorway, and it cracked wider open, revealing the person who had been by her side.

 

Leliana went slack and the dagger still in her hand clattered to the floor.

 

The intruder moved to Leliana's feet and dropped to one knee. “Pardon the interruption, Most Holy. I know it is late, but I simply couldn't bear to wait until the morning to see you again.” She bowed her head reverently as she spoke, denying Leliana the favor of her gaze.

 

An understandable, but wholly unacceptable, mistake.

 

Leliana leaned forward, cupping the woman's chin in her hand and guiding it up to look at her. “Elissa.” She breathed the word out, the most honest prayer she'd ever spoken, the most beautiful one she knew. “What are you doing here?”

 

“...Yeah.” Harding cut in, shuffling her feet uncomfortably in the doorway. “I'm gonna go now. But don't worry, boss,” she threw a wink at Leliana, “I'll make sure no one comes within fifty feet of the door until morning.”

  
Leliana couldn't help the soft smile that graced her lips, though she was none too happy about the interruption of her reunion. “Thank you, Sister Harding. You are dismissed.”

 

Finally, the door closed and they were the only two in the room, alone to take in the details of one another properly. The last time they'd seen each other, Elissa's head had been shaved but now it hung shaggy over her ears, the rest tied into a stub of a ponytail on the back of her head. Her formerly strong stance had slouched and deep creases had begun to settle into her face, but these differences meant little. She was still the same in the ways that mattered—in her bright golden-brown eyes and soft smile.

  
“When I heard—” The sentence died as soon as it started, and Elissa let her eyes fall shut. “I came to pledge myself to your service. I once swore I'd be by your side no matter what the Maker saw fit to call us to, and I intend to keep that promise.”

 

Leliana stroked her thumb along Elissa's cheek, smiling at her with a tender sadness. They couldn't be together now, not really. Not in the way they'd always dreamed of being when they discussed the future during the Blight. It had always been a fever dream, that they could simply drop all responsibility and be together, travel around Thedas—traipse about Rivain, get in trouble in Antiva, explore the Orlesian underworld of free-flowing liquor and pretty people in prettier clothes doing dirty things—without a care for anything but one another for the rest of their lives.

 

She couldn't rip her eyes from Elissa's lips. Oh, but she wanted them against her own. “Maker.” She sighed. “I missed you, my heart.”

 

Elissa's mouth quirked up in an echo of her own melancholy. “And I you, Leliana.” She turned to place a tender kiss to the palm resting on her face. “Or, I suppose I should call you Victoria now?”

 

Leliana laughed humorlessly and shook her head. “No. I shall always be your Leliana.”

 

Elissa brought her hands to skim along Leliana's calves, strong and creamy. “Yes. At least in my dreams I can still have you. If I'm banished to the void for them, so be it.” She leaned forward to press her face into Leliana's lap, inhaling deeply and letting the breath out with a shudder. “I missed the smell of you. Andraste's grace and sex.” She laughed, brushing her lips against Leliana's thigh through the nightgown.

 

“Elissa.” She breathed out the name again, fire igniting everywhere they touched. She buried her hands in her Warden's hair and tried not to urge her toward the growing throb between her thighs. She remembered Elissa's tongue against her womanhood so clearly she could practically feel it.

 

Elissa leaned down to trace the path of her hands with her mouth, paying careful, loving attention to every freckle and scar, whether fresh pink pucker or faded white line. She traced the curve of Leliana's calf muscle, letting out a moan that rumbled against her skin. “You're so beautiful, Your Perfection.”

 

Leliana whimpered. The title had never sounded so reverent nor so erotic on anyone else's lips. Elissa had made it to her knee before she stopped, placed a kiss to it, then pulled back.

 

“I—I'm sorry, Most Holy.” She stammered. “I forgot myself for a moment.” She moved to stand, but Leliana held her in place by the shoulders.

 

“You pledged to serve me, did you not, Lady Cousland?” She cocked her head off to the side, a small smile on her lips.

 

Elissa swallowed hard, then nodded. “Of course. From now to beyond the veil.”

 

“And so you will do whatever I ask of you?” Just saying it out loud made her heart pound harder in her chest and her stomach twist with anticipation.

 

“Anything.” She breathed, pupils stretching to take over the brown, darkening her eyes. “My body and soul are yours, Your Perfection.”

 

Leliana stood, releasing Elissa's shoulders as she did. “Then undress me.” She saw the shiver that ran through Elissa's body at the request, and was emboldened by it. “Slowly. We are in no rush now.”

 

She let the robe that still barely clung to her shoulders fall to the floor.

 

“As you wish, Most Holy.” Elissa began sliding her hands up the outside of Leliana's thighs, nudging the nightgown ever higher as she did. It was torturous, for the both of them, but Leliana wanted nothing more than to drag this out, to make it last for eternity. Yes, they could _both_ end up in the void, for all she cared. Even the Maker had desired Andraste, surely she could not be punished when faced with so glorious a beauty as Elissa Cousland?

 

Elissa's lips rose higher as well, taking their time to taste the skin of her inner thighs, stopping only when she reached the tops of them and her nose brushed against wiry red curls. Leliana was wearing no underclothes, of course, sweltering as it was even in the evening hours this time of year. Elissa simply stared at her sex for a few moments, her tongue darting out to moisten her own lips, and Leliana felt (with no small bit of anticipation) that Elissa might give in and taste her right then. Instead, her determination faltered and she shook her head sadly.

  
“Leliana. We—we shouldn't.”

 

Elissa was as devout an Andrastian as Leliana, and certainly no more a virgin than her either, but her upbringing was considerably more strict—more _Fereldan_ —when it came to such indiscretions. The Grand Game dictates you may do what you wish as long as you are not caught. In Ferelden, one is guided by a personal sense of honor. Leliana reached down to brush a hand along Elissa's hair, returning her attention to her face.

 

“Then the Maker said,” Leliana began softly, and she willed the words not to catch in her throat. “To you, my second-born, I grant this gift: In your heart shall burn an unquenchable flame. All-consuming, and never satisfied.” Elissa rose to her feet, uncertainty playing across her pretty features, before she leaned in to kiss her softly. It was barely there, and not nearly enough, but it was the first time they'd kissed in years. Whatever hesitance had been keeping their passion bated broke, and a hot wetness flooded between her legs. The two of them were together again, truly. Nothing else could make her happier. When Elissa pulled back to rest their foreheads together, Leliana took the opportunity to begin undressing her. “You are my unquenchable flame, my love. My gift from the Maker.”

 

Elissa laughed and kissed her cheek with affection, helping by shimmying and shrugging her way out of her clothing. “If anyone is a gift, surely it's you, Your Perfection.” Her hands returned to the hem of Leliana's nightgown and pulled it up and over her head.

 

She paused to take in the sight of her, and when she spoke, her voice was shakier, less sure of itself. “I missed you. I thought of you many nights when I was alone in my bedroll.” She kissed now the shell of Leliana's ear, then nipped at it playfully. “Your eyes,” she continued, not moving her lips so that her breath brushed hot against it, filling her head completely with the low rumble. “I thought I was remembering them as more beautiful than they really were. 'Elissa,' I'd tell myself.” Her hands settled on Leliana's waist, and her thumbs began to stroke the sensitive skin there. “'It is simply not possible for a person's eyes to be so blue as you remember. Your loneliness is clouding your memory.'”

 

She pulled back now to look at her and smiled tenderly. “But now I am here, in your presence, and they are perhaps more pretty than I had thought. And your mouth.” She leaned in to take her lips again, not as soft as she'd been before, parting them with her tongue and teasing at Leliana's own with it. She moaned and retreated just enough to speak again, though now she was breathing considerably harder than she'd been a moment ago. “How your lips are always so perfectly pink, as if you've just been kissed and are awaiting more, the way you somehow always taste so divine, even after eating Alistair's cooking.”

 

Leliana giggled. “A torture not even the worst sinner should have to endure.”

 

“Indeed.” Elissa agreed with a hearty laugh. Her hands moved around to stroke at the strong bow-trained muscles of Leliana's back and shoulders. “And let us not forget what lives in that sweet mouth, the clever tongue which has stroked me as many times as your fingers, and no less expertly.”

 

Leliana flushed with heat, the taste and smell and feel of Elissa bucking against her mouth filling all her senses in a wave of pleasure. “Oh, my love.” Her lungs failed her, and the words came out in a gasp.

 

Elissa ignored her, continuing with her examination. “Your neck, long and graceful. Especially that one spot—” She paused to bite lightly into the side of Leliana's neck, forcing another gasp and moan from her lips. “Yes, that's the one.” She chuckled, then soothed at the bite with her tongue. She pressed gently against Leliana's shoulders. “Please, Most Holy, lie down. Surely you're tired? Let me take care of you.”

 

Leliana raised an unimpressed eyebrow, but complied nonetheless. “I am not the one who looks as though she ran here from Rivain. I've done nothing but hold council and entertain the nobility all day.”

 

Elissa stretched out on top of her, letting their bodies settle into one another comfortably.“Yes, well. Conversing with nobility can be so exhausting, don't you think? Not to mention awfully dull. All that feigning interest...” She scoffed and rested her chin on Leliana's chest, in between her breasts. “There's just no _pleasure_ in it.” Her smile faded into something wicked, and it set Leliana's heart racing even faster. Elissa turned to brush her lips along the side of her breast, and somehow even that—so simple—twisted something dark and pleasurable into her loins.

 

She undid the tie holding Elissa's hair back and ran her fingers through it. It was greasy and unwashed, but Leliana could not bring herself to care.  Many were the nights they'd spent, weeks or months from a proper bath, covered in sweat and their own slick, tangled up in one another's limbs. She was not so far away from herself she had forgotten the pleasure to be had in such a state. Besides, there would always be time to bathe Elissa later. The thought brought  a great amount of joy to Leliana's heart (and heat to her sex).

 

Elissa took a nipple into her mouth and it tightened against her tongue, straining forward into the wet heat.

 

“You are the fire at the heart of the world,” Leliana gasped, “and comfort is only Yours to give.”

 

Her warden smirked, even with Leliana still in her mouth, and the tightening of her lips sent another burst of pleasure through her. “My favorite canticle.”

 

“I know.” Leliana smirked right back, and her voice dropped into a low, seductive purr. “Do you like it? Hearing Andraste's words while you pleasure her Chosen One?”

 

Elissa answered her by sucking the sensitive skin deep into her mouth and raising her hand to press an equal pressure to the other. Leliana cried out and rocked her hips up against Elissa's waist. “A woman so beautiful could only be the divine intervention of the Maker.” She murmured as she switched from one breast to the other and repeated herself, this time rolling teeth and tongue against it as well.

 

“O Creator, see me kneel: For I walk only where You—ah—would bid me,” Leliana was thoroughly finished with slow, and it showed in the rising pitch of her voice, “stand only in places You have blessed,” she pushed on the top of Elissa's head, urging her down further, “sing only the words You place in my throat.”

 

“Are you going to sing for me, my Nightingale?” Elissa asked with a smirk, and she began tracing her tongue down along her ribcage and over the relative softness of her stomach (pausing, of course to scrape her teeth along a few spots), until she reached her hips.

 

“If you play your hand well.” Leliana shot back, closing her eyes in her heady anticipation.

 

Instead, she felt Elissa pull back. “Leli. What—what is this?”

 

Leliana looked down to see what had distracted her love (when she was _so close_ , too), and found her running her fingers along the thick pink of a poorly-healed scar. “Haven.” She said quietly, covering Elissa's hand with her own and hiding the scar completely. Yet another reminder of her bloody past, of all the people who had to die to get her where she was. All the people they could not save. “Let's not dwell on it, my love.”

 

Elissa entwined her fingers with Leliana's then pulled them both to the sheets. She leaned down to brush her lips along the scar. “Don't hide.” She whispered, looking up into Leliana's eyes even as her tongue darted out to trace it. “This scar shows your bravery, and your compassion, and your strength. Wear it proudly.” She brushed her lips over it one final time, sending heated shocks through Leliana's body, then continued down. The thundering of Leliana's heart in her chest picked back up immediately, as if there had been no interruption at all; or perhaps it had never stopped?

 

She shut her eyes tightly again when Elissa's slick tongue stroked her outer lips. She had been denied this indulgence for far too long; she swore to herself she'd never go without it again. Her grip on Elissa's hair tightened to the point it must have been uncomfortable, but she made no noise of protest or attempt to escape it. Instead, her strong tongue pressed into her.

 

She cried out, she wasn't sure how loudly. Distantly, she hoped Sister Lace had been serious when she'd mentioned keeping people away from her bedroom. She'd hate to be caught like this.

 

At least so soon after her coronation, and in so average a place as her bedroom.

 

She gasped down breaths, trying to keep hold of her mind as the lapping stroke of Elissa's tongue pressed against the spot that drove her mad with pleasure again and again. When she spoke, she found herself fumbling with words she knew better than any song in the world. “My Maker, kn—know my heart.” She cried out again as the tongue slipped out of her and fingers moved in to replace them, giving her a different, firmer sort of pressure. She whimpered again and rocked her hips up into the hand pressing into her in a relentless rhythm. “Take from me a life of—” Elissa's tongue returned, this time on her clit and she gasped mid-sentence, her entire body arching and twisting without her input. “—sorrow. Lift me from a world of pain. Judge me worthy of Your endless pride.” Her voice was barely spoken, now more a whining whimper than a proper recitation of the chant.

  
Elissa paused, pulling back just long enough to pin her with hungry eyes. “Keep going, Your Perfection,” she panted, “please.”

 

Leliana swallowed thickly and nodded, scouring her brain for the next part of the verse, made more difficult by the return of Elissa's full attention to her sex. “My Creator, judge me whole: Find me well within Your grace.” She could feel the end approaching, the tightening of her own body, cranked up with pleasure and ready to burst open at the seams. She let out a breathy whine but continued to push herself to speak. “Touch me with fire that I be—ah—Elissa!” Her orgasm hit her hard, washing heat and pleasure through every inch of her skin. It had been so very long since she'd felt this way: this combination of hazy love and lingering sweetness. Elissa rose to press soft kisses to her face.

 

“Touch me with fire that I be cleansed,” she kissed her gently on her lips, “tell me I have sung to Your approval.”

 

Leliana's eyes fluttered open, a smile already on her lips. “Not yet. But we can remedy that, no?”

 

She flipped them over so she straddled Elissa's waist. They didn't rest until the sun had begun to lighten the depths of the night and the earliest of the morning birds began their calls.

 

 

 

 

“Sister Lace, I understand that you are now the Divine's Left Hand. I assure you I am nothing if not respectful of your position.” Cassandra ground out through her teeth, one hand raised in warning and the other rested on her hip (uncomfortably close to the hilt of her sword, if Harding had anything to say about it). “But Her Perfection's presence is required in the Grand Cathedral. Surely you know the importance of her timeliness.”

 

“Yeah. Look, normally? I would agree with you. But you just gotta trust me on this one, Lady Seeker. You don't wanna see what's going on in there. I've had to listen to it all night.”

 

Cassandra frowned. “Is she ill?”

 

Harding averted her eyes, her lips pushing awkwardly off to the side of her mouth. “Not exactly.” She drew the words out slowly, eyes searching for a way out of this. Sisters and servants she could handle; a pissed-off Pentaghast (one that actually lived up to their name as a slayer of dragons!) was a bit out of her scope.

 

“So, what is the trouble?”

 

“I can't tell you.”  
  


Cassandra huffed and shook her head. “Fine. I shall wake her myself.” She pushed Harding out of the way easily and strode to the door in a few long steps, a pleading Left Hand on her heels.

 

“Trust me, Seeker. You really, really should just turn around now—” But it was too late, because the door swung open to reveal Divine Victoria and Warden Commander Elissa Cousland naked and sprawled out together on the large, plush bed. With sunlight now filtering readily through the balcony doors, and with the two of them sleeping atop the covers, there was nothing left to the poor Lady Seeker's imagination. She turned, face burning a bright red.

 

“Cassandra!” Leliana at least had the decency to sound surprised, though she made no move to cover herself or hide her situation.

 

“Excuse the interruption, Most Holy. It's just that we were supposed to meet this morning to discuss new directions for the Seekers.” She said, still staring at the hallway with an embarrassed flush.

 

“Oh! Of course, how silly of me. I shall be down at once.”

 

“Thank you, Your Perfection.” Cassandra turned awkwardly with her eyes pressed shut to bow, then attempted to turn again and leave the room without opening them.

 

“Sorry, boss.” Harding said, shrugging. “I tried to warn her. I'll be here when you're ready to head out. Want me to send in anyone to help you get ready?”

 

“No. Thank you, Sister Lace.”

 

Harding did her own bow, then shut the door behind her.

 

Leliana burst into giggles, and Elissa grabbed her arm and pulled it back around her waist. “She looked almost as horrified as Morrigan did when she walked in on us by that bathing pool.”

 

Leliana pressed a soft kiss behind her ear. “Ah, but she's an innocent, which makes embarrassing her all the more fun.”

 

“Definitely.” She glanced over her shoulder to gaze at her love, tightening her hold on the arms across her stomach. “But for now, you have work to do and I have errands to attend to.”

 

Leliana sighed, releasing her and rolling to her back. “Yes, I suppose you are right.” She watched as Elissa stood and began to gather her clothes and put them back on. “You'll be back tonight, though, no?”

 

She paused in lacing her pants and smiled softly. “Of course.” She leaned over to kiss her gently, then lingered near her lips, her hair a curtain granting them their own world. “I won't leave you again, I promise.”

 

Leliana leaned up for one final kiss before rolling off to prepare for her day, as well. She felt good. Settled in herself. Perhaps it hadn't been shedding Leliana that she needed, but finding her.

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt from the Kink Meme. Also, every time I write these two together, I kinda feel like I'm writing romance novels? It's a weird feeling. This could be/pretty much is the same universe as Of Wardens and Wax Puddles. Hope ya liked it, friends.
> 
> Also, is it weird that now I just want to start writing a series of fics where Harding (as the Left Hand) goes on adventures with Schmooples II a la the boxcar children/scooby-doo/etc.?


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